Madden 25 Rookie Ratings Projections (First Round)

Now that the first round of the NFL Draft is complete, it’s time to analyze each pick’s potential Madden impact. Plenty of teams in the first half of the draft completely wasted their picks while some teams toward the back half found some absolutely Madden 25 gems. See what our experts think below.

Chiefs – Eric Fisher OT – In terms of Madden, this isn’t a very good pick. Unless you have 4 or 5 beasts on your o-line, you won’t see much of an impact out of any of them. He will have an 80+ overall rating from day 1 but Chiefs fans won’t notice much of a different with him in the game

Jaguars – Luke Joeckel OT – Again, although it makes sense for the organization, this pick has no immediate impact on Madden 25. 80+ overall from day 1

Dolphins – Dion Jordan OLB – While this may have been a reach for the Dolphins, it was not at all a reach in terms of Madden impact. Pass rusher is a hugely important position in Madden and they got a ratings freak. Look for around a 78 overall but very good stats that matter (Speed, finesse moves, acceleration, etc).

Eagles – Lane Johnson OT – Out of all of the offensive tackles taken in the first round, Johnson will have the biggest impact. Madden 25 ratings czar, Donny Moore, confirmed via twitter that he will have 78-81 speed. He will be a great fit for a Madden team that runs screens and moves their lineman around often. Keep in mind though, that he is an offensive tackle so his impact will be minimal.

Lions – Ziggy Ansah DE – He will come in with good stats. Decent speed, high strength, servicable pass rush moves. Look for him to make an impact similar to Dion Jordan at #3.

Browns – Barkevious Mingo DE – In Madden 25, Mingo will essentially be a poor man’s Dion Jordan. Good speed and ability to rush the quarterback. He’ll make an impact right away on the virtual gridiron.

Cardinals – Jonathan Cooper OG – Rumors are that he will have an 84 overall rating in Madden 25 which would be the highest of anyone taken. The problem is that the difference between a 74 overall guard and an 84 overall guard isn’t noticable. In terms of Madden, this is a completely wasted pick.

Rams – Tavon Austin WR – Huge boom or bust pick in the form of a Desean Jackson or Ted Ginn Jr pick. None of that matters though in Madden. He will have insane stats like 96+ speed, 96+ elusiveness, 96+ accel, 96+ agility, and decent catching attributes. If this draft was run by Madden 25 general managers, he would be a top 3 pick for sure

Jets – Dee Millner CB – Any experienced Madden gamer will tell you that the one position you can’t even have enough of is defensive back. It is common for 6 or more to be on the field at any one time. That makes Dee Millner a great Madden NFL 25 pick just based on the fact that he will have great coverage skills coming into the game.

Titans– Chance Warmack OG – See our comments on Jonathan Cooper and apply them to Warmack.

Chargers – D.J. Fluker OT – See our comments on Fisher or Joeckel above. No real Madden impact to be had here.

Raiders – D.J. Hayden CB – Anyone else remember the Raiders Madden dominance from Madden 09 to Madden 12? That was all due to having a whole stable of fast, talented, and athletic cornerbacks. Hayden fits that mold exactly. This was an awesome Madden pick and Raiders fans will see an impact on the virtual gridiron right out of the gates.

Jets – Sheldon Richardson DT – For the 13th overall pick, this is a huge waste in terms of Madden. Sure good defensive tackles can have a little impact but the Jets have so many more needs in Madden 25 like pass rusher, speedy running back, wide receiver, cornerback, and linebacker. Wasted pick.

Panthers – Star Lotulelei DT – See the Jets comments above except that the Panthers aren’t nearly as bad of a team as the Jets in Madden 25.

Saints – Kenny Vaccaro S -First round safeties in Madden are about as dominant as can be. Even if they turn out to be huge busts, they will maintain their important stats. If you get a good one, you have a huge impact player (Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Earl Thomas, Eric Berry, etc) or you get a bust that is still an insanely good Madden player (Reggie Nelson, Laron Landry, etc). You can’t go wrong with this pick.

Bills – E.J. Manual QB – You can’t go wrong with a smart, athletic, and strong armed quarterback in Madden 25. No matter how bad he performs in the league, he will still maintain his speed and throw power rating which are both essential to any qb in Madden games.

Steelers – Jarvis Jones OLB – The Steelers drafting a linebacker in the first round pretty much guarantees he will be a stud. The problem is the bad 40 time Jones ran at the combine will affect his speed rating coming into the year. Pass Rushing outside linebackers with under 80 speed are fairly useless in Madden.

49ers – Eric Reed S – See out comments on Kenny Vaccaro at #15. By plugging him into the 49ers already amazing Madden defense, you will notice a difference right away. Again, even if he turns out to be a bust, he will have the raw stats that hardcore gamers drool over.

Giants – Justin Pugh OT – Probably the most useless Madden pick of the first round. At least with the other tackles taken, you will see a high overall rating. With Pugh, you likely won’t see a rating over 75 overall.

Bears – Kyle Long OG – See our remarks above on Pugh and apply them here.

Bengals – Tyler Eifert TE – He will be a big time playmaker in Madden. He will have great catch, spectacular catch, and catch in traffic. Couple that with decent speed, great jumping, and his big body and you have a top 5 Madden 25 player in this draft.

Falcons – Desmond Trufant CB – You can never have enough defensive backs in Madden so this is a great Madden value pick.

Vikings – Sharrif Floyd DT – While this was probably the steal of the draft, it is a useless Madden pick. The Vikings will have an awesome tandem at DT but that doesn’t do as much as having an awesome tandem of wrs, cornerback, running backs, linebackers or safeties.

Colts – Bjoern Werner DE – 3-4 defensive ends don’t do much for you in Madden unless you are talking about absolutely beasts like Haloti Ngata. Colts fans shouldn’t expect much of an impact right away from Werner in M25.

Vikings – Xavier Rhodes CB – Awesome Madden 25 pick that will make a difference right away. Noticing a theme here on how important good cornerbacks are in Madden?

Packers – Datone Jones DE – Again, like many above him, absolutely awesome player but he just doesn’t play a position that makes him all that valuable in Madden 25. Solid combine numbers will make him fairly relevant though.

Texans – Deandre Hopkins WR – A great pick based purely on Madden. He didn’t have great combine numbers which is the only thing holding this back from being an awesome pick. He will make an impact on the virtual gridiron.

Broncos – Sylvester Williams DT – Not at all a helpful pick in terms of Madden. The Broncos could have really used a halfway decent running back to put them into the category as an elite team in Madden 25.

Vikings – Cordarrelle Patterson WR – The vikings knocked this pick out the park. Big play wide receivers are so hard to find in Madden and that is exactly what Patterson is.

Rams – Alec Ogletree LB – A young elite MLB is truly one of the rarest things to find in Madden 25. He will have the raw stats to make an impact right away.

35 Comments

bjoern werner isnt a 3-4 end and has only played 4-3 in college(while consistently being a top 3 in sacking ends).Crazy motor,strength and technique and even the gators couldn’t stop him from getting to their mobile qb..it would be a crime if one of the best end in the country were misevaluated and diminished because of it.No Question werner is a sack machine who also plays the run in limited american football.limitless potential

despite all the pre draft hype,lets not forget ej manuel has a 66+ completion%,26-6 record,mobile when needed pocket passer,undefeated in bowl games,2% less accurate on sports nation than luck,intelligent,elusive,big arm,nfl senior bowl MVP,247,4.6 speed(FASTER than fitzgerald,etc),etc.29% of his passes weren’t behind the line of scrimmage and short passes didn’t pad his stats like wv smith.i hope madden doesn’t overlook his true ability and underrate or slight his potential because he wasnt hyped like smith.

Greg reid and tyrann mathieu!Two of the most exciting playmakers in college football before being derailed by off the field issues.reid has personally shut down ND wr Floyd and USC south jefferys(both nfl wrs),one single hit took lattimore out of the entire game(with fumble and hes made many) electrifying kick returner,ditto for mathieu.the are two in the same and i hope they are well represented in madden 25 and have potential

as for werner,some hybrid because they worked him that way in the combine.either way you couldn’t have studied werner and not recognise hes an absolute stud/playmaker.he will need time to adjust but at least give him potential.some players in madden grow some cant,how can one of the best not grow?

We aren’t saying he isn’t a good player or won’t do amazing things in the NFL. It just that with 4.8+ 40 speed he won’t make much of an impact in Madden 25 as much as guys like Dion Jordan or Barkevious Mingo who will get good finesse move and speed ratings right away. Werner will be lucky to get speed/accel ratings above 77 overall. Most dominant pass rushers in Madden games need at least 82+ speed.

so that 4.8 speed is teo/ogleetree speed so i should expect the same?i understand jordans speed he was a wr/te at once but werner should be ahead of jordan in every other pass rush stat and strength.if you do the research that would be clear.if madden is to be accurate why not rate werner as he is(a beast end potentially out of place)?this way whomever could trade,change schemes,43 or 34 hybrid etc?nothing against jordan hes just not the complete package werner is.6’7 and fast he is but inconsistent and largely unproductive at times.im only saying rate them right because we all know the nfl doesnt draft the best players first its the best need often

Ogletree ran a 4.7 flat so he is probably looking at like 79-81 speed. Werner and Teo are looking at 76-78 speed. I can’t think of one impact pass rusher in recent Madden games that had only a 76 speed rating.

If you look purely at the numbers. 24th overall pick, DE hybrid, 4.83 40 time, 25 reps, that isn’t something that screams impact player right away. I can’t see him making a huge different at least until maybe a roster update a few weeks into the season if he is just piling on sacks. Even if that happens though, we won’t see a huge increase to his speed and accel rating which are the most important ratings for pass rushers in Madden games.

Again, I am not arguing that the guy sucks. On the contrary, I think he is a beast but that won’t translate all that well into Madden ratings and Madden performance.

ok i understand what youre saying.but lets be real jj watts ran a 4.76,4.81 and 4.95 and hes pretty awesome!!!just say if you know hes a beast rate him a beast,jj watts set the precedence..at least make it were if i change him to the 4-3 his stats reflect hes a beast like previous madden players when we change their positions

just an example werner tied for most sacks in ncaa,most yards lost on sacks,year before that 7sack 1 int and the guy has only played football 5years.top iq ‘nd instincts.has speed and power and is a 4.6 game speed(plays fast)very athletic,impact strong side end with very good awareness against the run and swats passes at line of scrimmage.hes not superman but besides clowney the wasn’t a better 4-3 end(fact)

I think people are forgetting that these ratings are only predicting the players stats in a game that hasn’t even been released yet. Some players were great in college, but due to sub par combine performances they wont have the stats to impact games in Madden 25 right away. That doesn’t mean they wont contribute on the field though.

This is why 2k sports will take over football like it has basketball.ncaa and madden ratings,how ratings matter,ol/dl interactions,db/wr interactions,ridiculous linebacker picks and coverage,stupid AI,Glitch AI,ability for 80-92 speed players to run and stick with 95-99 speed players without being physical or anything,ridiculous under cut interceptions,wr streak,the fact speed is the most important attribute on a dlineman,and the fact that ea has had an monopoly and trys to push this this or that nonsense on the consumer each year instead of just giving us everything.2k football on dreamcast was killing madden and im sure would again or madden will stop nickle and diming the fan and compete.real AI offensive and defensive,ratings really matter,smooth seamless gameplay,great graphics,awesome commentary,great features we love(Minigames,offline franchise,fantasy draft,ability to control your own experiences in your home with your family and friends as you see fit,ETC.use this power these machines have(63,17 PER

Seeing as Barkevious Mingo was the fastest pass rusher taken, I think in terms of madden he’ll have a huge impact. Any idea what his speed/accel rating will be? Matt Elam will have a huge impact because he’s filling a void at the safety position. Tavon Austin will also be huge just because of his speed etc. Even if Austin or Mingo turn out to be busts, they’ll be good in Madden based on raw potential

Wow,um I just wanted to say that whoever you are that made this website, you are in the nicest way I could possibly put it, a fucking idiot. This is some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen on a website. I somehow stumbled onto this site trying to find out if there would be a better franchise mode in Madden 25, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. U guys know nothing about football or Madden. Starting with this article, to say that teams wasted picks because there not good in Madden is just dumb. I understand u are referring to madden and not real life,but it just sounds stupid. And to say that good offensive linemen and don’t matter and only conerbacks and olbs with speed is just plain wrong. I think u forgot about one of the most important attributes in madden, Awareness. Seems fitting beacause u have none. The 49ers will have a noticable impact from rookie safety Reid? Really because he’s replacing pro bowl calibre Dashon Goldson who left via fee agency. And then in ur other article u talk about not being able to consistantly run between the tackles. I would love to play u in Madden, id run it down ur throat all day. And thanks for the only madden tip, how to turn a 3 -4 defense into a 4-3. Wow, how long did u spend figuring that one out? There are various ways to run a 4 -3 front with all the different formations they provide u in Madden, and ur forgetting all the dropped awareness u get from switching players positions, but I suppose ur guys just fly all over the field with there superior speed ratings, no matter how badly out of position they are. Well I forgot why I even took the time to post on here, I’m not ususally this much of a dick, but I felt compelled to say something. That is all!

I’d like to invite you to play in our Madden School tournaments when Madden 25 comes out. It isn’t your fault that you aren’t aware of the reality of higher level Madden. Hopefully, you can learn without being humiliated too much that your 300-52 record in online ranked Madden games means nothing and your eyes can be opened to what it’s like to play against real Madden gamers.

If you honestly believe that the awareness rating is one of the most important attributes in Madden and that you’d rather have 2 99 overall offensive lineman than 2 99 rated cornerbacks, you will have a long way to go until you can compete at a high level.

Anyway, I hope you stick around until late August to see what it’s like to play the “idiots” on Madden School.